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[RGM79]

I'm having an odd problem.

I bought 16GB RAM on black friday to upgrade the 4GB I currently have. Put the sticks in, everything booted up fine, RAM is shown in Windows.

Checked on CPUZ and it seem to be running slow, so thought I'd boot to BIOS and check if XMP was enabled.

I can't seem to get to BIOS any more?! I've upgraded to Windows 10 so I assumed that might be it. I've tried all sorts of workarounds I've found but nothing seems to work - holding down delete at boot just stops the PC from even getting to POST and it just cycles power constantly.

Anyone got any ideas? Motherboard is an Asus P8P67 Pro.

Don't hold down the key, just pressing it will work. If you can't get the timing down, then an easier way to get into the BIOS menu would be to turn on the computer and continuously tap it until the BIOS menu appears.

It shouldn't have anything to do with Windows as installing Windows doesn't modify the BIOS and Windows doesn't load until after the motherboard successfully completes POST.

 

[Sickbean]

Don't hold down the key, just pressing it will work. If you can't get the timing down, then an easier way to get into the BIOS menu would be to turn on the computer and continuously tap it until the BIOS menu appears.

It shouldn't have anything to do with Windows as installing Windows doesn't modify the BIOS and Windows doesn't load until after the motherboard successfully completes POST.

Tried tapping too.

And I did find a few articles stating that a feature of windows 10 is that it locks you out of UEFI BIOSs by default.

 

[RGM79]

Tried tapping too.

And I did find a few articles stating that a feature of windows 10 is that it locks you out of UEFI BIOSs by default.

Source? Are you sure you're not confusing that with the UEFI secureboot feature?

 

[hateradio]

Finalized List!

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($203.37 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($147.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)


Real total: $1505.73
Pending Rebates: $105

Anyone else use Excel to track this stuff?


Waiting for the case, GTX, and PSU.

I will probably get a fan or two after I get the case.

 

[pislit]

Fractal Design is having a Node 202 giveaway (with Integra power supply). This means that this case is close to hitting the market! Might grab this while I wait for Dan ITX.

If you are interested with the giveaway, it requires social media madness. I suppose yo pipz are armed with giveaway accountz.

 

[BossDarkseid]

This may be a dumb question but I'm asking out of curiosity more than anything else...

So my motherboard seems to have 8 ram slots. When the pc arrived it had 4x4gb every other slot where appropriate. However seeing how Amazon seem to have some crazy (to me) deals, like 4x8gb for £145, I'm half tempted...however is there some particular reason why the 4x4gb was arranged like that, so the mob can only accept things in a certain configuration or was it just for the sake of it?

 

[Sickbean]

Source? Are you sure you're not confusing that with the UEFI secureboot feature?

I just googled 'can't boot to bios windows 10' and a load of stuff came up.

No idea what I'm confusing it with - all I know is I can't get to bios any more!!

 

[RGM79]

I just googled 'can't boot to bios windows 10' and a load of stuff came up.

No idea what I'm confusing it with - all I know is I can't get to bios any more!!

No offense meant, but you're googling for a very vague problem of which there could be many different causes, some related to Windows 10 but others unrelated as well. Of course if you google for "problem + windows 10" then you'll find results mentioning other people with similar problems on Windows 10. If you google for "can't boot to bios windows 7" you will get results of people claiming windows 7 broke their ability to get into the BIOS.

In any case, I don't think Windows 10 was actually designed to prevent and lock out users from accessing the BIOS, but it could be an unintended side effect of some Windows 10 feature or option. Most of the issues where Windows 10 seemed to stop people from being able to access the BIOS apparently to have to do with specific situations or computers (some Lenovo computers when updated to 10 had a bug where they stopped being able to access the BIOS from the advanced restart menu), or that Windows 10 had fast startup enabled and that was preventing users from being able to access the BIOS normally. Give these guides a try:

Boot to UEFI/BIOS settings from an option inside Windows 10
Enable/disable fast startup for Windows 10
Enable/disable fast boot setting in UEFI/BIOS (after you gain access to the BIOS menu)

Edit: If none of those work, there are still other solutions to try. Your motherboard has a button in the top right corner next to the RAM slots called the "MemOK! switch". When the computer is off, according to the manual: "press the MemOK! switch to boot and load BIOS default settings. A messgae will appear during POST reminding you that the BIOS has been restored to its default settings." At that point you should be given the option to enter the BIOS as well.

This may be a dumb question but I'm asking out of curiosity more than anything else...

So my motherboard seems to have 8 ram slots. When the pc arrived it had 4x4gb every other slot where appropriate. However seeing how Amazon seem to have some crazy (to me) deals, like 4x8gb for £145, I'm half tempted...however is there some particular reason why the 4x4gb was arranged like that, so the mob can only accept things in a certain configuration or was it just for the sake of it?

Edit: Your motherboard's manual will show you diagrams of valid RAM configurations. The RAM you received with your computer was installed in a specific configuration so as to work in quad channel mode - motherboard circuitry is designed to access RAM slots in a way that is "ideal" for speed and efficiency, they are usually color-coded to help users tell apart the slots. As long as you place the RAM in the appropriate spots according to your motherboard manual, it will function correctly and at the best performance. In your specific case, you're thinking of filling all eight slots with RAM, that will work just fine for quad channel mode.

 

[manfestival]

No, you don't need a better heatsink. If you're not going to overclock, why not get the Intel Xeon E3 1231v3 ($243)? Compared to the i5 4690K it costs slightly more and it has nearly the same clock speed (just slower by 0.1GHz), but offers hyperthreading which makes it act like a quad core i7 processor that can handle 8 threads at a time.

So its worth paying the little bit more and that would more future proofing for me as someone who doesnt overclock? I only decided on the 4690 because I see it everywhere as the choice CPU at the price. First time seeing the xeon as a suggestion in my tier. Probably gonna be dropping around 500 on these parts and it looks like the CPU is gonna be half of the cost lol. Are either of those CPUs power hungry?

 

[Chakvr2]

I'm having an odd problem.

I bought 16GB RAM on black friday to upgrade the 4GB I currently have. Put the sticks in, everything booted up fine, RAM is shown in Windows.

Checked on CPUZ and it seem to be running slow, so thought I'd boot to BIOS and check if XMP was enabled.

I can't seem to get to BIOS any more?! I've upgraded to Windows 10 so I assumed that might be it. I've tried all sorts of workarounds I've found but nothing seems to work - holding down delete at boot just stops the PC from even getting to POST and it just cycles power constantly.

Anyone got any ideas? Motherboard is an Asus P8P67 Pro.

Less technical than RGM's reply but might be worth a shot, have you changed keyboards or the port that it goes into recently? Because I switched motherboards recently and found that my keyboard doesn't work during boot when I plug it in to a USB 3 port, I had to use a USB-to-PS2 adapter to make it work again to get to the BIOS (and it used to work from the old USB2 port).

Supposedly you change it recognise USB devices on boot from inside the BIOS but I haven't found the option on my board yet.

Might worth trying it in a USB2 port/with a different keyboard/adapter if you have any lying around?

 

[Sickbean]

Less technical than RGM's reply but might be worth a shot, have you changed keyboards or the port that it goes into recently? Because I switched motherboards recently and found that my keyboard doesn't work during boot when I plug it in to a USB 3 port, I had to use a USB-to-PS2 adapter to make it work again to get to the BIOS (and it used to work from the old USB2 port).

Supposedly you change it recognise USB devices on boot from inside the BIOS but I haven't found the option on my board yet.

Might worth trying it in a USB2 port/with a different keyboard/adapter if you have any lying around?

Same keyboard as always, although it is a wireless usb one. It must be recognising the keystrokes as it stops the pc booting completely. No bios, no nothing. Just cycles power.

 

[Matty8787]

Guys I have a rather dumb question.

I want a new 1440p 144hz monitor but don't care for the g sync free sync stuff.

The free sync equivalent are much cheaper but I have a Nvidia card...

Would they work together?

 

[Duebrithil]

I was thinking of adding a new storage HDD to my desktop and I've been looking at the Toshiba DT01ACA300 and the WD Green 3 TB. Any other options at around 3TB, ~90€? Any big performance gaps between 3TB and 4TB that might make a 4TB drive the more sensible choice?

Haven't looked into Seagate at all (I've been burned in the past by Barracudas), but it seems like the newer models might not be so bad. Any recommendations?

 

[Talisker]

Hey Guys, I posted this a while back:

----------
Hey Duders

I am thinking about upgrading my video card. I currently play with this setup:

Windows 10 (64-bit OS )
Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti

At some point I will most likely buy a completely new rig. For now though, I am wondering if it would make sense for me to cheaply upgrade a few individual components, such as the graphics card.

I am very inexperienced in this and I am aware that upgrading too much doesn't really make sense since components can be bottlenecked by others. Don't know how much sense I'm talking here really, but what would be a sensible way to invest a few dollars and get a bit more out of my rig?

Thank you all in advance. Any advice is welcome

--------

Someone recommended to get a new video card as well as some additional RAM. However, I'm wondering whether someone can recommend me a specific video-card that would make sense based on my other components.

Budget is less of a concern for me, looking to upgrade over christmas. Thanks!

 

[DieNgamers]

So I made a buy-list. It's kinda expensive, haha. Can I trim some fat here? Also, are there any bad compatibility issues if I buy this setup? I don't want any future troubles...I hope everything fits together nicely:
List is here.

or here:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K Box, LGA1150 357,99 €
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3, Sockel 1150, ATX 103,99 €
RAM: 8GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9 40,99 €
Case: Sharkoon T28 green (Window-Kit), ohne Netzteil 61,99 €
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series Modular CX600M, 600W 79,99 €
Graphics: MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC, GeForce GTX 970, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort 344,99 €
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's 50,99 €
SSD: Crucial SSD 120GB BX100 65,99 €
DVD: Samsung SH-224FB/BEBE DVD-RW 13,99 €
Windows: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit inkl. Vorinstallation 89,90 €
Service: (I'll let them build it) 14,99 €

Gesamtpreis: 1.225,80 €

1225 € o_o

Corrections are very welcome!

 

[OraleeWey]

Guys I have a rather dumb question.

I want a new 1440p 144hz monitor but don't care for the g sync free sync stuff.

The free sync equivalent are much cheaper but I have a Nvidia card...

Would they work together?

You can use the monitor up to 144hz but you won't be able to use FreeSync.

 

[Norwegian_Imposter]

What is the best graphics card out at the moment aside from titans?

 

[kennah]

What is the best graphics card out at the moment aside from titans?

980 Ti

 

[Norwegian_Imposter]

980 Ti

Thanks how close to the next graphics card coming out is it? I don't want to upgrade if a new one is weeks away

 

[Nostremitus]

Thanks how close to the next graphics card coming out is it? I don't want to upgrade if a new one is weeks away

AMD looks like next summer, Nvidia maybe Q3?

Supposedly AMD has first dibs on the new HBM.

 

[Matty8787]

You can use the monitor up to 144hz but you won't be able to use FreeSync.

Excellent, partnered with a 980ti I think that would be good enough.

Cheers.

 

[RealityCheque]

I've recovered a 3.5" 500gb HDD from an old media box and am thinking of chucking it into my PC as a backup drive.

It's ages since I fitted the last one and I've completely forgotten what I need to get it going. I'm assuming I need a sata power and data cable. Can anyone point me to some amazon UK links for ones that'd be decent. Flat ones with a 90 degree connector would be good, space wise.

Thanks in advance to anyone who feels like pointing me in the right direction.

 

[The Lamonster]

Upgrading soon from a 60Hz 1200p monitor to a 165Hz 1440p monitor with G-Sync.

Do I need to disable VSync in all my games? Anything else I need to change on the software side?

Anyone know this?

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Anyone know this?

Disable vsync in all games, yes.

Make sure gsync is on in nvidia cp.

 

[RGM79]

So its worth paying the little bit more and that would more future proofing for me as someone who doesnt overclock? I only decided on the 4690 because I see it everywhere as the choice CPU at the price. First time seeing the xeon as a suggestion in my tier. Probably gonna be dropping around 500 on these parts and it looks like the CPU is gonna be half of the cost lol. Are either of those CPUs power hungry?

What exactly are you buying? What's your part list look like? While the Xeon processor does cost a bit more, you can probably make up for it by going with a cheaper motherboard. The i5 4690K would in theory have slightly higher power consumption than the Xeon because it has integrated graphics built in and just slightly higher clock speed. That and the fact that the i5 is rated at 88 watts of thermal design power while the Xeon is rated at 80 watts TDP.

Hey Guys, I posted this a while back:

----------
Hey Duders

I am thinking about upgrading my video card. I currently play with this setup:

Windows 10 (64-bit OS )
Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti

At some point I will most likely buy a completely new rig. For now though, I am wondering if it would make sense for me to cheaply upgrade a few individual components, such as the graphics card.

I am very inexperienced in this and I am aware that upgrading too much doesn't really make sense since components can be bottlenecked by others. Don't know how much sense I'm talking here really, but what would be a sensible way to invest a few dollars and get a bit more out of my rig?

Thank you all in advance. Any advice is welcome

--------

Someone recommended to get a new video card as well as some additional RAM. However, I'm wondering whether someone can recommend me a specific video-card that would make sense based on my other components.

Budget is less of a concern for me, looking to upgrade over christmas. Thanks!

Your processor is still very excellent and won't represent a bottleneck at all. Neither is the 8GB of RAM, but DDR3 is cheap and more RAM wouldn't hurt. Common and popular graphics cards for you to upgrade to would be the GTX 970, R9 390, or GTX 980 Ti. Which one you go with depends on how much you want to spend. For more specific recommendations, please tell us what case you have and PSU model so we can be sure the graphics card we recommend will be compatible with your PC.

So I made a buy-list. It's kinda expensive, haha. Can I trim some fat here? Also, are there any bad compatibility issues if I buy this setup? I don't want any future troubles...I hope everything fits together nicely:
List is here.

or here:

1225 € o_o

Corrections are very welcome!

How much do you want to spend, maximum?

I would recommend going with the i5 4690K, a cheaper case and power supply, and drop the SSD and DVD drive if you need to lower costs. I'll come up with a specific parts list once I have some more time about 2 hours from now. There won't be any compatibility issues as-is, though.

 

[DieNgamers]

How much do you want to spend, maximum?

I would recommend going with the i5 4690K, a cheaper case and power supply, and drop the SSD and DVD drive if you need to lower costs. I'll come up with a specific parts list once I have some more time about 2 hours from now. There won't be any compatibility issues as-is, though.

Thanks for the answer! The current price would be ok, I'd like to keep it under 1250. My initial goal was ~ 1000€ (but 250 more should be ok if it really makes the package as a whole better).

Actually an SSD has been recommended by people at work... I don't know exactly why, though... It's much faster right? I just wonder in which scenario an SSD would be crucial, regarding games and performance.

The power supply has to match the power need by the hardware, does it? I tried a cheaper one and the online-builder wouldn't let me have the Geforce anymore.

Overall I'm looking for as much power and durability as I can get for the money. If I need 1250€, so be it. I'm always a little scared of buying a turd. I did just a week ago. I'll take the money back for thisffffffffffffffgfggggggggggggggggdffffffffffffffffffbhtr gtnggggbbbbbbbbbggghmh argwh thats my daughter typing

 

[Xenus]

Finalized List!

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($203.37 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($147.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)


Real total: $1505.73
Pending Rebates: $105

Anyone else use Excel to track this stuff?


Waiting for the case, GTX, and PSU.

I will probably get a fan or two after I get the case.

Word of warning for anyone using windows 7 and the skylake z170 boards. I just built mine yesterday and it turns out they dropped anything abut exhi USB support on them. Which means you cannot use USB in windows 7 without the driver. Luckily some of the motherboards are patching in a windows 7 install mode that will allow you to use USB until you can install the drivers.

Also the thermaltake core x9 is gigantic but so much cooling space

 

[RGM79]

Thanks for the answer! The current price would be ok, I'd like to keep it under 1250. My initial goal was ~ 1000€ (but 250 more should be ok if it really makes the package as a whole better).

Actually an SSD has been recommended by people at work... I don't know exactly why, though... It's much faster right? I just wonder in which scenario an SSD would be crucial, regarding games and performance.

The power supply has to match the power need by the hardware, does it? I tried a cheaper one and the online-builder wouldn't let me have the Geforce anymore.

Overall I'm looking for as much power and durability as I can get for the money. If I need 1250€, so be it. I'm always a little scared of buying a turd. I did just a week ago. I'll take the money back for thisffffffffffffffgfggggggggggggggggdffffffffffffffffffbhtr gtnggggbbbbbbbbbggghmh argwh thats my daughter typing

Well, there's no question that the i7 4790K has it uses and benefits over the i5 4690K. I'm not sure what you'll be doing with the PC, though. The i5 processor will handle games just fine although there are a few games that will perform slightly better with the i7, but the i7 has a definite edge in certain productivity applications. Do you plan on doing any overclocking? If not, there are cheaper non-overclocking processors that would cost less and offer comparable performance for your needs.

Yes, an SSD would be nice to have and what it does is improve loading times dramatically and make Windows feel much more responsive. It won't improve game performance except for loading, but it can help make the experience much smoother especially for open world games that tend to do a lot of "seamless" loading in the background. That said, 120GB is somewhat small and depending on your usage can fill up somewhat quickly, especially as Windows will be permanently taking up a portion of that SSD and games are approaching very large sizes. There really isn't a situation where an SSD is an absolute requirement unless you are doing some sort of work that requires high speed storage (I assume you would know if you needed one for work).

I wasn't aware that the online PC builder would actually limit your graphics card choice based on what power supply you choose. That does prevent people from choosing parts that could possibly not work well together, but I can't help but wonder if there aren't suitable power supplies that simply cost less. A GTX 970 can be comfortably run on a 500 watt power supply with wattage to spare as a GTX 970 itself usually draws a bit less than 200 watts.

Edit: Here's a preliminary parts list for you to look at, costing just under 1000 Euros.

 

[DieNgamers]

Well, there's no question that the i7 4790K has it uses and benefits over the i5 4690K. I'm not sure what you'll be doing with the PC, though. The i5 processor will handle games just fine although there are a few games that will perform slightly better with the i7, but the i7 has a definite edge in certain productivity applications. Do you plan on doing any overclocking? If not, there are cheaper non-overclocking processors that would cost less and offer comparable performance for your needs.

Yes, an SSD would be nice to have and what it does is improve loading times dramatically and make Windows feel much more responsive. It won't improve game performance except for loading, but it can help make the experience much smoother especially for open world games that tend to do a lot of "seamless" loading in the background. That said, 120GB is somewhat small and depending on your usage can fill up somewhat quickly, especially as Windows will be permanently taking up a portion of that SSD and games are approaching very large sizes. There really isn't a situation where an SSD is an absolute requirement unless you are doing some sort of work that requires high speed storage (I assume you would know if you needed one for work).

I wasn't aware that the online PC builder would actually limit your graphics card choice based on what power supply you choose. That does prevent people from choosing parts that could possibly not work well together, but I can't help but wonder if there aren't suitable power supplies that simply cost less. A GTX 970 can be comfortably run on a 500 watt power supply with wattage to spare as a GTX 970 itself usually draws a bit less than 200 watts.

Edit: Here's a preliminary parts list for you to look at, costing just under 1000 Euros.

Thank you! Actually I do quite a bit movie and image editing, so I guess the i7 may be worth it. Overclocking will be an option (I'lldo my bit of research before). The SSD can wait for now. I asked a buddy to fiddle with your list (added a few optional things like a cheap Asus monitor...I'll have to buy one anyway. My old one is long gone.) and came up with this:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/pcconfigurator/meinpc/1362608

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Finalized List!

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($203.37 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($147.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)


Real total: $1505.73
Pending Rebates: $105

Anyone else use Excel to track this stuff?


Waiting for the case, GTX, and PSU.

I will probably get a fan or two after I get the case.

The pricing on Skylake is a bit ridiculous, you can get an i7-5820K for $375 at Newegg. The X99 motherboards aren't really any more expensive than the Z170 mobos either. And they use the same DDR4 memory. I guess it's up to you if you prefer 2 more cores or 5-10% higher per-thread performance, I ended up going with 2 more cores because Fry's had that X99 mobo so dirt-cheap on Black Friday.

Intel is really making a killing on Skylake, although part of it is that they have had issues supplying enough CPUs to meet demand which has driven pricing upwards. That 14nm process is a tough bitch I guess.

 

[FinKL]

Finalized List!


Anyone else use Excel to track this stuff?

If you have an account on pcpartpicker, you can save your builds, and manually type in the price you paid for each part. It's always fun to revisit some of your builds and look how much you paid.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

GTAV and The Witcher 3, they mentioned they set the graphics settings to what they felt they were able to achieve best at 4K (around 45~50FPS). With a single GTX 980 Ti, expect to play at medium to high settings, depending on the game. You won't be able to play on ultra/maxed settings, and you should avoid using MSAA, Nvidia hairworks, and certain higher shadow/grass settings in some games.

Thanks for the responses. What do you guys think about building a rig now with a mid range GPU on 1080p, then waiting until mid 2016 to upgrade to a Pascal GPU to go with a 4k TV? Would the CPU make a difference at that point?

 

[RGM79]

Thank you! Actually I do quite a bit movie and image editing, so I guess the i7 may be worth it. Overclocking will be an option (I'lldo my bit of research before). The SSD can wait for now. I asked a buddy to fiddle with your list (added a few optional things like a cheap Asus monitor...I'll have to buy one anyway. My old one is long gone.) and came up with this:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/pcconfigurator/meinpc/1362608

I wouldn't go with that power supply, surely there are better models. A TechPowerUp review of the non-modular version of that model showed somewhat poor quality. You do not need such high wattage for a PC that will draw less than 500 watts maximum, even with overclocking. I recommend you stick to the XFX model I recommended earlier.

Thanks for the responses. What do you guys think about building a rig now with a mid range GPU on 1080p, then waiting until mid 2016 to upgrade to a Pascal GPU to go with a 4k TV? Would the CPU make a difference at that point?

Nothing wrong with those plans, others are planning to do the same thing you are. Any decent processor that you buy now will be good for perhaps at least the next four years, more if you overclock.

 

[Josman]

Still no news on Pascal right? I hope that whatever succeeds the 970 will be as fast as a 980ti because of the hype they're building, but man I'm tired of waiting with this 750ti, I played the witcher 3 and barely hit 40-60fps at 1600x900, I'm considering to just get a 970 and try to sell at a loss later, which is very hard in my country.

 

[opticalmace]

Still no news on Pascal right? I hope that whatever succeeds the 970 will be as fast as a 980ti because of the hype they're building, but man I'm tired of waiting with this 750ti, I played the witcher 3 and barely hit 40-60fps at 1600x900, I'm considering to just get a 970 and try to sell at a loss later, which is very hard in my country.

I think it's extremely unlikely it'll be that fast at the 970 pricepoint... I'd expect maybe 20-30% faster than a 970 if the cost is the same.

If you need a new video card I'd just get one.

 

[Celcius]

Does cpu cache really not matter for gaming? Take 2 cpus:

1. 6700k with 8mb L3 cache
2. 6950x with 25mb L3 cache

The L3 cache is shared between all cores, so even if a game only uses 4 cores, the 6950x would have over 3 times as much L3 cache.

Also, when most people talk about the differences between the most popular i5 & i7 cpu's (2500k vs 2600k, 6600k vs 6700k, etc..), they mention the i7 having an extra 100mhz base clock and having hyperthreading, but most people fail to mention that the i7 has 25% more L3 cache then the i5 (8mb vs 6mb).

Spoiler

Based on my experience, I really don't think it matters much but wanted to get peoples' opinions

Are there any types of programs where cpu cache actually does matter these days?

 

[Nostremitus]

Keep in mind that the 860K will probably bottleneck the new graphics card.

She's still not interested in overclocking, isn't she? Well, I guess you could get her the i5 6500 or 6600 instead of the 6600K. No idea why about the 7850K's Illustrator performance.

Yeah, I decided to wait a do a full new build next year.

Spoiler

I got her a new drafting table and lighted tracing/animation board.

 

[chessnut]

Just installed Windows on my new PC and my USB drive and my ethernet cable don't work. I don't get it. I have no idea how to start installing my programs and drivers....

I used a usb cd drive to install windows and I tried burning the drivers onto a disk, but windows doesn't detect the cd drive...what the fuck? My thumb drive and my cd drive are detected by my BIOS but not by windows, never had this problem before.

just to be clear: My usb ports can detect my mouse/keyboard and even my steam controller, but not my thumb drive or usb/cd drive

 

[Giriath_89]

So I just accidentally ran my i7-2600k without any cooling whatsoever. It ran at 98c for quite a while before I discovered the reason for all the slowdown.

Chances I escaped without damage?

 

[SilverVenom]

Was hoping to get some opinoins.

Could you link me to a recommended model of the GTX 980 Ti?... I was looking at amazon and i saw like 12 different kinds..

Honestly not sure if i should wait for the Pascal GPUS or just go for upgrade.

 

[RGM79]

Just installed Windows on my new PC and my USB drive and my ethernet cable don't work. I don't get it. I have no idea how to start installing my programs and drivers....

I used a usb cd drive to install windows and I tried burning the drivers onto a disk, but windows doesn't detect the cd drive...what the fuck? My thumb drive and my cd drive are detected by my BIOS but not by windows, never had this problem before.

just to be clear: My usb ports can detect my mouse/keyboard and even my steam controller, but not my thumb drive or usb/cd drive

What motherboard do you have? Try the USB 2.0 ports. I don't understand why your disc drive isn't supported, support for those are pretty much universal and don't require special drivers. Maybe you can show us what Device Manager shows under the drives heading, or check whether your DVD drive is listed in Disk Management.

Does cpu cache really not matter for gaming? Take 2 cpus:

1. 6700k with 8mb L3 cache
2. 6950x with 25mb L3 cache

The L3 cache is shared between all cores, so even if a game only uses 4 cores, the 6950x would have over 3 times as much L3 cache.

Also, when most people talk about the differences between the most popular i5 & i7 cpu's (2500k vs 2600k, 6600k vs 6700k, etc..), they mention the i7 having an extra 100mhz base clock and having hyperthreading, but most people fail to mention that the i7 has 25% more L3 cache then the i5 (8mb vs 6mb).

Spoiler

Based on my experience, I really don't think it matters much but wanted to get peoples' opinions

Are there any types of programs where cpu cache actually does matter these days?

Depends on the game engine and coding/optimizations. As I understand it, the CPU cache is just a high speed buffer for data being read from RAM. If the RAM's speed already isn't a bottleneck for a game, it's perhaps unlikely that CPU cache will matter too much, maybe.

So I just accidentally ran my i7-2600k without any cooling whatsoever. It ran at 98c for quite a while before I discovered the reason for all the slowdown.

Chances I escaped without damage?

Usually there are automatic protective measures in place. Most motherboards should automatically shut down the PC if it gets too hot. Also as you noticed, the processor will automatically throttle itself back and slow down to try and reduce heat. No idea if it's damaged or not, I kind of doubt it would be damaged if at all.

Was hoping to get some opinoins.

Could you link me to a recommended model of the GTX 980 Ti?... I was looking at amazon and i saw like 12 different kinds..

Honestly not sure if i should wait for the Pascal GPUS or just go for upgrade.

Sorry, totally missed your post and forgot. Do you prefer to order from Amazon or are other retailers okay? As far as low prices go, the Gigabyte Windforce model is $600 at Amazon. The next best model I'd recommend costs at least $630 and requires rebates to be that cheap.

 

[REMAINSILLY]

After this question I promise to not be so annoying with my questions.

I have an i5-750 OC'd @ 3.2 Ghz. As long as I have a good GPU, I'll be okay, right? Or is it necessary to get a new CPU/mobo? I don't want to play games at MAX, but medium-high at 60FPS is my preference. So if I'm able to achieve that with this CPU and a GOOD GPU, I'd be good.

Is it possible?

 

[Giriath_89]

Usually there are automatic protective measures in place. Most motherboards should automatically shut down the PC if it gets too hot. Also as you noticed, the processor will automatically throttle itself back and slow down to try and reduce heat. No idea if it's damaged or not, I kind of doubt it would be damaged if at all.

Thanks for your answer. Yeah, everything seems to be running fine now.

 

[RGM79]

After this question I promise to not be so annoying with my questions.

I have an i5-750 OC'd @ 3.2 Ghz. As long as I have a good GPU, I'll be okay, right? Or is it necessary to get a new CPU/mobo? I don't want to play games at MAX, but medium-high at 60FPS is my preference. So if I'm able to achieve that with this CPU and a GOOD GPU, I'd be good.

Is it possible?

Depends on the game. Your CPU is a bit dated, but it's possible to achieve decent performance in some games. I see now that you mentioned that you tried to overclock to 4.0GHz and it failed. Can you tell me some more details like what your system specs are, what CPU cooler you have, etc?

I was able to get my i5 750 to successfully reach 4GHz with the help of these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6zANFlYEDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llqhe3N1cJA

 

[chessnut]

I just connected my old ssd into my new computer and essentially used it as a flash drive to install LAN drivers. If you're curious I have a z170xp-sli motherboard

 

[hateradio]

The pricing on Skylake is a bit ridiculous, you can get an i7-5820K for $375 at Newegg. The X99 motherboards aren't really any more expensive than the Z170 mobos either. And they use the same DDR4 memory. I guess it's up to you if you prefer 2 more cores or 5-10% higher per-thread performance, I ended up going with 2 more cores because Fry's had that X99 mobo so dirt-cheap on Black Friday.

Intel is really making a killing on Skylake, although part of it is that they have had issues supplying enough CPUs to meet demand which has driven pricing upwards. That 14nm process is a tough bitch I guess.

I was close to going with the 5820K, but the reason I didn't is because of the higher power consumption and the price difference wasn't that large. Plus, a MicroCenter that wasn't too far away.

Word of warning for anyone using windows 7 and the skylake z170 boards. I just built mine yesterday and it turns out they dropped anything abut exhi USB support on them. Which means you cannot use USB in windows 7 without the driver. Luckily some of the motherboards are patching in a windows 7 install mode that will allow you to use USB until you can install the drivers.

Also the thermaltake core x9 is gigantic but so much cooling space

Fortunately I have Windows 10 ready to go. :]

 

[REMAINSILLY]

Depends on the game. Your CPU is a bit dated, but it's possible to achieve decent performance in some games. I see now that you mentioned that you tried to overclock to 4.0GHz and it failed. Can you tell me some more details like what your system specs are, what CPU cooler you have, etc?

I was able to get my i5 750 to successfully reach 4GHz with the help of these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6zANFlYEDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llqhe3N1cJA

This is my CPU cooler.

I'm sure I didn't achieve 4.0 Ghz because I didn't adjust the voltage. Running at 3.2 Ghz on stock voltage is fine, but I'd have to adjust it to get 4.0, but I'm not sure exactly how to change it.

I'll watch the videos you linked (thank you for that!). But if I have to, I can get a new CPU/mobo during tax season. Nothing too expensive because bills come first, but maybe a mid-range AMD.

 

[RGM79]

This is my CPU cooler.

I'm sure I didn't achieve 4.0 Ghz because I didn't adjust the voltage. Running at 3.2 Ghz on stock voltage is fine, but I'd have to adjust it to get 4.0, but I'm not sure exactly how to change it.

I'll watch the videos you linked (thank you for that!). But if I have to, I can get a new CPU/mobo during tax season. Nothing too expensive because bills come first, but maybe a mid-range AMD.

Ah. I managed 4GHz on a Hyper 212 Evo which is the slightly larger brother of the Hyper T4. Maybe scale back your efforts since you're on a smaller cooler, try for a smaller overclock at 3.7 or 3.8GHz instead. I know for a fact that you need to adjust the voltage to get it higher than 3.2GHz, I think I got the voltage numbers to try from those two videos. You'll have to do some fine-tuning of your own to see how stable it is and how hot it gets when you play games. High voltage will be easier to attain a higher overclock, but will also mean it runs hotter. Less voltage is the opposite.

 

[Euphor!a]

Why can't I find Micro ATX motherboards that support SLI? I can find dozens that support Crossfire, but for some reason no SLI support.

Also if it matters I am looking at LGA 1151 boards.

 

[REMAINSILLY]

Ah. I managed 4GHz on a Hyper 212 Evo which is the slightly larger brother of the Hyper T4. Maybe scale back your efforts since you're on a smaller cooler, try for a smaller overclock at 3.7 or 3.8GHz instead. I know for a fact that you need to adjust the voltage to get it higher than 3.2GHz, I think I got the voltage numbers to try from those two videos. You'll have to do some fine-tuning of your own to see how stable it is and how hot it gets when you play games. High voltage will be easier to attain a higher overclock, but will also mean it runs hotter. Less voltage is the opposite.

I honestly think I may just end up buying a new CPU/mobo. I'm tired of having to work with 6+ year old hardware.

I'm looking at maybe an FX-6300 since it's sub-$100 and seems to get good reviews for gaming. Was also looking at the Pentium Anniversary CPU, but it's dial-core and some games won't even open up, lol/.